Mariss Jansons and his Bavarian forces performed the ‘Resurrection’
at this year’s BBC Proms on 9th August and in Edinburgh three
days later. I confess I’m not a fan of this conductor’s
Mahler, but I was pleasantly surprised by his 2011 Concertgebouw accounts
of Nos. 2, 3 and 8 in the RCO box of Blu-rays (review).
The Dutch orchestra played very well for him in the 'Resurrection'
- as did the BRSO at the Proms - and that’s my abiding memory
of both performances. Is that enough? After all this is one of those
transfiguring works that needs to batter the heart as well as caress
the ear. Gustavo Dudamel and his Bolivars achieved that elusive state
with their 2011 Prom - a DVD/Blu-ray of that would be most welcome
- as did Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhaus at the 2011 Leipzig Mahlerfest
(review).

What torpedoed Jansons’ 2013 Prom for me was the use of an electronic
organ - the Bavarians tune to a lower pitch - and a combined chorus
of only one hundred or so. Neither is conducive to maximum impact
in the Royal Albert Hall, although I gather this wasn’t an issue
in the smaller Usher Hall, Edinburgh, the following Monday. Regrettably,
mezzo Anna Larsson was replaced in both concerts by Gerhild Romberger;
that said, the usually dependable Larsson wasn’t at her best
in the Luisi/RCO Das Lied von der Erde. This BRSO Blu-ray looks
reasonably promising in the soloist stakes, although I did find Bernarda
Fink a little too generalised in the Jansons/RCO ‘Urlicht’.

Michael Cookson was at the first of the two performances that make
up this Blu-ray, and I’m pleased he singled out the excellent
visuals in his review
of the DVD. Brian Large is one of the most intuitive video directors
around, so that certainly augurs well for this disc. Some may feel
the pictures are of peripheral importance, but the erratic camerawork
and insensitive fades in the RCO cycle really diluted my enjoyment
of the music. The unpardonable lack of subtitles for the vocal works
also robs the RCO discs of their shine. No such cavils - technical
or otherwise - about the Chailly Blu-ray; that’s the one Jansons
and the BRSO have to beat.

Unusually the programme begins with a short but mellifluous a cappella
arrangement of Mahler’s Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen,
conducted by chorus master Michael Gläser. The piece has a lovely
sheen, but it's a little too moulded for my taste. By contrast the
opening bars of the symphony have an etched urgency that promises
much, but despite a sophisticated colour palette Jansons is just too
fastidious with his brush; that and odd tempo changes disrupt the
narrative. It all sounds glorious - bright, clear woodwinds, burnished
horns and silky strings - but without a governing thrust and sense
of purpose the music is apt to wander.

The Andante moderato is even less focused; the leading edges
of Mahler’s lovely, winsome tunes are unforgivably smudged and
rhythms are stultifyingly literal. I’ve long felt Jansons fusses
over tiny daubs and loses sight of the broader canvas; happily he
avoids that in his RCO concerts, but I’m afraid he doesn’t
here. The third movement is tossed and tugged about - quietly flowing
it certainly isn’t - and despite dozens of delectable details
that don’t always register in the concert hall it all seems
so reactive, so spur of the moment. The long span - and that includes
crafting the climaxes so they don’t sound rhetorical and/or
overblown - seems to elude Jansons in Munich. Oddly that wasn’t
an issue in Amsterdam.

Fink’s ‘Urlicht’ - beautifully sung but ultimately
rather bland - leads into some of the most puzzling and peremptory
Mahler I’ve heard in a long time. Jansons underlines and emphasises
to an extraordinary degree, drawing out and then shushing his chorus
in a most unsubtle fashion. Harteros is adequate, but nothing special,
while the timps and bass drum - rather too prominent, as they were
in the Albert Hall - add a superficial thrill to the proceedings.
In mitigation the chorus sound substantial and they sing well, but
the organ isn’t particularly powerful. The closing pages seldom
fail to transport and terrify in equal measure, but here they do neither.

What a wayward and perplexing performance this is, the very antithesis
of Jonathan Nott and his Bamberg band (Tudor SACD). Lean, propulsive
and superbly structured Nott's is one of the stand-out Mahler 2s of
recent memory. The sound of this Jansons Blu-ray - in stereo at least
- is good, and the high-def picture is pin-sharp. That’s faint
praise, given that the performance is nowhere near as recommendable.
If you must have this symphony on Blu-ray Chailly is the one to go
for; I doubt that will be equalled - let alone eclipsed - any time
soon.